Ch 5: Carriage rides among other things

"Regulus," she contemplated not taking his hand and scrambling up on her own, but temptation won her over. So, she slipped her hand into his and let his warmth wash over her again.

"You look good with pink hair you know," his smirk made her stomach flip flop, "It suits you."

Her hair and face flushed even redder for a moment before she took the reminder to heart and began to school her emotions, allowing blonde to bleed back into her hair from the roots down, "Sorry about that, with so much going on, I just can't always keep in under control."

"I wasn't making fun," he assured her, "I swear, I really do like it, or maybe I just like knowing I have that effect on you."

Caught off guard she felt the familiar rush of her hair blushing a bubble gum pink before she brought it to heel again, this time just managing strawberry blonde, "You did that on purpose."

"Maybe a little," he smirked and met her grey-blue eyes confidently, "I told you, I like it."

The train whistle blew shrilly before she could reply, which was just as well since she had no idea how to reply to this bold and handsome boy. She was sure it was just a game he was playing with her, just a way to amuse himself, but something in her lept with joy every time he complimented her. She could have spent hours letting him make her entirely too uncomfortable in the train hallway, but that would mean a trip to Hogsmeade rather than Hogwarts. So, like it or not, she needed to move.

"I supposed we'd better actually get off the train then," she managed after a beat of observing his far too perfect face.

"I supposed we'd better," he agreed in his typical unshakably confident manner before following her lead off the engine and towards the clearing where carriages pulled by skeletal winged horses awaited.

On the short walk, he managed to whisper a few joking comments about the other students they saw to her, enjoying her laugh once again. But all too soon, they came upon the clearing. She didn't mention the steeds to him, she'd learned better after second year. Everyone else only saw magical carriages that simply pulled themselves. Instead, she began sizing up the carriages and the crowd filing towards them, attempting to figure out which carriage would either be the least empty or full of people that wouldn't hate her too much for imposing on them. She couldn't let herself hope that he would invite her to sit with him, she'd already indulged herself more than enough. It was time to settle into being alone again. Friends were for normal people, not freaks. Anything more than friendship was just that much more out of her reach as well.

"Reg! You've brought our little mouse back to us!" A sudden shout startled her, causing her to jump and whirl around to find the source just in time for collision with an overly excited Sirius, who bound over to them like an eager dog greeting its owner.

"Your mouse?" Regulus' question held an edge she could almost mistake for jealousy if he were talking about anyone else.

"Elsa here, bolted as soon as we opened the compartment door, the poor thing must have just gotten a bit turned around in all the excitement," Sirius joked, but caught her eyes and gave her a gentle placating smile, "Thank goodness you caught her, poor Peter's quite taken with her I'm afraid."

"I am not!" an indignant Peter squeaked from a few paces away, earning a light slap from Remus, "Er, not that you're not a lovely bird and all."

"Be that as it may," Sirius barreled on, "We'll be taking her back from you now, James found a lovely carriage for us all to squish into, besides, I think I saw Avery over there looking for you."

Regulus jumped a bit at the mention of his best friend and the realization that he could be seen associating with his brother and the outcast Rosier, "Well, I guess if you've got it all figured out then. I'll see you around."

He nodded at Elsa before reluctantly taking off towards the crowd, trying not to think too hard about the fact that he was leaving her, once again, with his far too popular older brother. It was tempting to stay, or better yet to whisk her away with him, far from Sirius's charming gaze, but he knew better. This year was far too important for him, he couldn't risk it by appearing too friendly with anyone he shouldn't, and she was most definitely included in that category. Instead, he schooled his features into something approximating aloofness and turned his focus to his goal. All the while, doing his best to shut out any thought of her pretty face and soft pink hair. Elsa, for her part, managed to only gaze wistfully after him for a moment before turning her icy blue eyes to Sirius in a not-quite-glare.

"You didn't have to scare him off like that," she admonished, "He's your brother, after all, he could have ridden with us too."

She nearly missed the look of sadness that swept over Sirius' features before his smirk fell into place once more, "Silly mouse, carriages only seat four, we can't be bolstering our numbers like that."

"There are five of us!" she cried in exasperation but found herself following swiftly as he bounded toward the end of the carriages, despite herself.

"That is why, my sassy little mouse," he turned to face her as he boarded the carriage and offered her a hand up, "You'll be sharing a seat with me."

In a swift and seemingly well-practiced motion, he pulled her into the carriage and onto her lap, which would have been impressive, if she hadn't immediately fallen to the floor in a pathetical ball, her eyes dark with panic. He froze as she realized what she'd done and blanched completely white.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to," his grey eyes were soft with something close to understanding as he very slowly and carefully extended a hand, "I should have known better."

She took it gratefully and glanced around quickly to find thankfully, none of the others had made it to the carriage quite yet, "What do you mean by that?"

"What did Sirius do now?" Remus interjected as he boarded the carriage, then stopped short, taking in the tense air, "Am I interrupting something?"

"No!" she half shouted before reeling herself in quickly, "I mean, Sirius was just suggesting I share his seat with him and I…"

She trailed off unable to find an explanation for her panic and just stared at Sirius helplessly, who in true Sirius fashion, decided to save the day, "Little mouse was just a bit shocked that we wouldn't chivalrously provide her with her own seating of course, but what can we do with so little room?"

"I could take a different carriage," Remus offered helpfully, turning to disembark from the cramped interior.

"No! Er—no, I'm fine. Sirius and I can share, don't worry," she surprised herself, shouldn't she have taken that as an excuse to leave?

Instead, she found herself gingerly settling onto Sirius's lap exactly how she'd never ever imagined she would. His warmth seeped into her back, making her entirely too conscious of every point of contact between the two of them as she already began to internally berate herself. Hadn't she just decided to resign herself to being alone again? Still, some part of her couldn't help being just a bit glad she'd stayed as Sirius's arms settled loosely around her waist. Perhaps just one carriage ride wouldn't hurt, then she could go back to her wallflower routine. She smiled softly at Remus, who settled tiredly onto the carriage bench, allowing a rather distressed Peter and put out James into the carriage as well.

"Finally, I was beginning to think we would just miss the entire feast," James exclaimed as the carriage took off at a pace that seemed at least a bit faster than normal as if attempting to catch up to the rest of the carriages.

James then immediately launched into a long and overly embellished tale about how he had been trying to figure out which carriage Lily had gotten into so he could ask what she thought of his letter. To which, Remus told James he hadn't delivered the letter, which of course descended into a ride full of teasing, bickering, and all the other boisterous activity she'd grown accustomed to on the train ride there. Of course, on the train ride there she hadn't been entirely too aware of Sirius' arms resting gently around her waist. Or the way he had to tighten them slightly every time they hit a bump or a turn to ensure she didn't spill off his lap and onto the floor again. Each time his arms tightened, she found herself battling suddenly fluttering in the pit of her stomach. What was happening to her? She tried not to think about how close she was to the handsome boy, and instead remembered her earlier panic. Her mind whirred as the boys chattered, trying to dissect the look Sirius had given her when she'd been curled up on the floor. It wasn't pity; it was something far less patronizing, perhaps even understanding. The thought chilled her to the bone and made it hard to keep her breathing normal enough he wouldn't notice the change.

Just as they were rounding the last turn, his arms tightened ever so slightly more around her and he leaned close to her ear. She shivered at his hot breath on her ear and the earlier fluttering erupted into a frenzied uproar. "I'm glad I convinced you to ride with us little mouse, I think you fit in with us quite nicely."

She muffled a small squeak at the compliment and focused her entire being on keeping her hair and eyes their respective default blonde and blue, entirely missing the self-satisfied smirk that settled over Sirius' features at her response.